Curb appeal

We started one heck of a project this weekend. One of the very first things we noticed about this house was that the front landscaping( geez, who am I kidding... all the landscaping!) lacked curb appeal. The front consisted of red lava rock and matching red scalloped edging. In my opinion, lava rock should only be used at the bottom of pots to assist in drainage and aeration. It should definitely not be used in a location that gets very little rain because of the huge maple in the front curb. I'm fairly convinced that our shrubbery (Monty Python is now playing in my head) is dying because of all that lava rock.

We are now replacing all the lava rock with a neutral brown mulch, excellent moisture retention, and laying down these edgers pictured to the left. I think some hosta would really enjoy this location now.

The rocks were six inches deep in some places!






These edgers were gone in less than 5 hours. Very frugal landscapers in our neighborhood, love it!

Unfortunately, the lava rock is still sitting in bags on the curb. Only one taker so far, and he only took one bag. Anyone have ideas for what we can do with it?






We are also painting all of our exterior doors Regal Red by Dutchboy. When I painted the interior side of this door white I tried taping, did not go well, then I found out that latex paint can be scraped away from window panes using a razor blade. So easy!

What would you think about the window boxes painted this same color? Too much?